InDesign 18.x (2023): Problems with WMF import (MathType- or Illustrator-WMF)

Report · Sep 24, 2023

All versions 18.0 to 18.5 and version 17.4.0 have a bug when importing WMF files.

Versions 17.4.1 and 17.4.2 are fine, so I have been relying on these versions for some time.

I create technical manuals with extensive equations (often several thousand equations per book).

For this I use MathType. I export the equations as WMF files and link them in the InDesign file.

However, the use of MathType is obviously not the problem at all.

The WMF error can be easily reproduced with ADOBE Illustrator:

Just export a single character as WMF file and link it several hundred times in the InDesign file (i.e. always this 1 file with only 1 character, e.g. in Times New Roman font).

If the screen display performance in InDesign is set to "High Quality", you can already see on the screen that some of these WMFs are not displayed! (See attached screenshot. Missing WMFs are marked yellow)

Then create a PDF file.

Here, too, some WMFs are not displayed, but others than were missing in the screen display.

You can repeat these attempts as often as you like.

These are "random" errors. Each time opening the same InDesign file different random WMFs are missing. Each time exporting this file to PDF some other WMFs are missing.

So I opened an Adobe ticket.

Adobe acknowledged the problem and postponed me from one 18 version to the next.

In the meantime we have version 18.5 and the bug is still not fixed.

So the only usable versions are 17.4.2 and 17.4.1 respectively.

Therefore my question to the community:

Is anyone else affected by this WMF import bug?

Report · Sep 24, 2023

Have you tried using another vector format, for example, SVG? Avoiding proprietary file formats by Microsoft is a good idea anyway.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Thanks for your comments.

MathType offers only WMF and EPS as vector-oriented export formats.

The EPS format is not useful at the moment. See my other answer post for this.

Report · Sep 24, 2023

Why you are not using EPS format?

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Thanks for your comments.

The EPS format is currently not useful for two reasons.
1. With some symbol fonts, individual characters are occasionally displayed incorrectly when exporting to EPS format. In MathType itself, the display is correct, and there is no error message when exporting.
2. Currently there are enormous waiting times in InDesign when placing MathType EPS and then also when turning pages. Meaningful work is no longer possible.
Therefore, the only option is to use MathType-WMF.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

I would not recommend to use EMF or WMF. Normally I do not recommend EPS neither, but it is better than EMF/WMF. What I would do after exporting EPS:

1. Open Acrobat Distiller

2. Set it to an appropriate setting for print files.
3. Drag all EPS on it.
4. Use the converted PDF now in InDesign.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

I'm sorry @Willi Adelberger , but have you read whole thread?

OP already posted in detail why she is forced to use WMF files.

Report · Sep 26, 2023

I do not think it is appropriate to advertise with silly sentences a 3rd party product.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Hello Adobe Community,

some additional comments to my first post:

There is no alternative to using MathType-WMF for my requirements.

The EPS format no longer works in a meaningful way. See my other answer post for this.

Using other software to create mathematical equations is out of the question.
My customers (publishers) require the use of MathType for this.
The authors supply Word files with MathType equations as raw material for the books.
Since I mainly create technical manuals, they usually contain a lot of equations.
Currently, for example, I am working on a nearly 1,000-page physics book with more than 11,000 equations.

Converting the WMF files into Adobe Illustrator files is also out of the question, since the equations must remain editable with MathType.
In the case of technical books, there are many rounds of corrections as well as new editions with extensive changes again and again.

Using other layout software instead of InDesign is also out of the question.
Here, too, my customers are committing me to the use of InDesign.

The only remaining solution option is therefore:
ADOBE fixes the WMF error that has been known for a long time.
As a short-term interim solution, InDesign 17.4.2 must be available again ready to start.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Can you share INDD file with those randomly missing WMFs? Maybe there would be a way to locate them through scripting?

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Hello Robert,
thanks for the interest.
We created a test file that we had already sent to Adobe Support.
Adobe was able to reproduce the bug and wanted to fix it for version 18.2, then for 18.3, 18.4 and finally 18.5.
With Adobe email from August is now put off to the version 2024.

Therefore, I have been using version 17.4.2 since then, which works flawlessly with WMF files.

In the attachment you find the test files.

TEST InDesign 18.5 - Illustrator-WMF 27.6.indd: InDesign file version 18.5 contains 1 WMF file linked 720x. Of course, this is not a real case, but it is simple and clear for testing.

TEST-Illustrator 27.6.ai: Illustrator file version 27.6. This file is to be exported as WMF file.
(I wanted to include the WMF file right away, but Adobe Community doesn't allow that as an attachment).

InDesign 18.5 - Illustrator-WMF - Screenshot.jpg: This is a screenshot from InDesign. IMPORTANT: Use "High image quality" preset. You can see that 720x the WMF file is linked. However, at the yellow marked places the character is missing.

TEST InDesign 18.5 - Illustrator-WMF 27.6.pdf: This is the PDF file generated from InDesign. Characters are missing here as well.

Each time the InDesign file is opened and each time the PDF is generated, the characters are missing in a different place. So this is a random error.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Can you upload WMF file ?

You can change its extension to JPG and then attach.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

I've created my own WMF file - and it opens fine:

But PDFs are generated with missed objects at random places:

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Hi Robert,
thank you very much for test and feedback.
To see already on screen that characters are missing it is necessary to set the display performance to "High Quality" in the InDesign preferences.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

@Manuela Maria

Looks like the bug is "predetermined" - missing links are "made missing" when INDD is open.

But it will export in the same "bad way" as JPEG, PNG, EPS, PDF - although with different objects missing than preview.

So, like I've said in other post - maybe you should replace ALL WMFs to a differennt format right before export?

Report · Sep 25, 2023

Hi Robert,
I had already thought of the solution to replace the MathType WMF with another file before creating the print PDF.

But this is unfortunately not practical for my purposes for various reasons.

My orders are thick books, sometimes with several thousand equations.
There are several correction rounds for each book.
I would have to replace the files after each round of proofing so that I could deliver them to the customer.
Each MathType WMF would have to be opened with Illustrator, saved in AI format, and re-linked in InDesign.
The AI files are scaled and cropped after relinking, and that would need to be fixed.
After that, the baseline offset and pagination would still have to be correct, which I doubt.
So I would have to thoroughly check the entire book again.

The effort would be high, despite the use of scripts, but above all the risk would be far too great.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

I've got and understood your requirements and restrictions the first time - just needed some time for my 6th sense to kick in.

If you work on a PC - my ID-Tasker can do everythuing specified below fully automatically - but if you are on Mac - you would need to find someone who can make script in JavaScript for you ... or if you have a PC that you can connect to your network - my ID-Tasker would work as well but not as efficiently - WatchedFolder mode.

My workaround workflow - after few iterations when driving:

(*) Each WMF would have to be exported as hi-res B/W bitmap - equations are B/W anyway - or could be a vector format - but B/W bitmap will be easier to "handle" by InDesign and during printing - no need to rasterize,
I know about the need to reposition equation - BaselineShift (done tool for this few years ago) - which wouldn't be a problem - during export, each bitmap would have BaselineShift value added to the name,
when you need to update ANY equation - you would need to place only new / changed WMF or EPS Equations into a specified folder for processing - (*) step - then script woould update only those new / updated equations - reading BaselineShift from the FileName and acting accordingly - yes, it could be read from original WMF/EPS files - but that would be a waste of time - your fake Equations would've been processed already by (*) step so BaselineShift can be added as well,
If you would prefer AI/PDF/EPS files instead of Bitmaps (*) - not a problem, I can handle Illustrator - so original WMF/EPS can be automatically opened, converted/vectorised as needed, then relinked in InDesign,

As I've mentioned at the beginning - if you work on a PC or can connect PC to your Mac network - all of the above can be done 100% automatically - on any number of files - at any point during your workflow - or even after you go home - during the night - so you'll have everything updated and ready when you get back to work next day - with an option to monitor progress through a website.

As my ID-Tasker is extremely powerfull tool - it could do much more - generate PDFs for proofing and upload to FTP server - if that's the way you send your PDFs for proofing ... posibilities are endless ... haven't done it yet, but I'll even add an option to send e-mails...

Report · Sep 26, 2023

Hello Robert,

thank you for your efforts.

My current status is now:
InDesign 17.4.2 is working again, which means I can complete the current open jobs.

Next steps:

I will open tickets with Adobe again, so that the WMF import bug in version 18 will be fixed.
Unfortunately, the currently available version 18.9-BETA is still buggy.
So I am afraid that Adobe will not be able to fix the problem in version 18.

In parallel, I will inform MathType.
We have had problems with WMF files in previous versions of InDesign. Once the expandable brackets disappeared in random places in the print PDF. And in version 17.4.0 random characters were displayed incorrectly in the PDF file. Disappeared characters existed additionally. All these problems resulted in errors in changing places with each new PDF generation.

MathType also exports EPS files.
But for books with a large number of formulas per page - e.g. physics books or electrical engineering books - the response time of InDesign is extremely long. This means that EPS can no longer be used in a meaningful way.
Let's see, maybe MathType can offer other export formats soon, e.g. SVG.

Maybe I will improve the workflow for new jobs.
My workflow is completely supported with scripts. Already the supplied Word files are prepared with scripts. And for InDesign I have scripts that are optimized for my way of working. For example, all equations are placed by a script. The script reads the baseline shift directly from the WMF files.
So I don't want to completely change my way of working, because I have built up an extensive script library over the years.
For new jobs, I will check if I can use files that have been converted from WMF to another format. I can still extract the baseline shift from the WMF files. I.e. but the converted file would have to be exactly the same size.
In addition, I would also have to create a script that opens the selected equation with MathType and automatically converts the file when I save or close it. I definitely don't want to do this manually. For a physics book with over 10,000 equations, the file names are too similar, and doing it manually is too error-prone.

You see, besides productive work, I spend enough time to keep the tool chain up to date. But only a workflow with optimized scripts can be efficient. The learning of the API was time-consuming - but it has been worth it over the many years.

Report · Sep 26, 2023

@Manuela Maria

I'm not talking about breaking your workflow - but to improve it.

Number of equations per document or per page doesn't matter - script(s) can keep them in order for you - so you can focus on more important things.

BaselineShift isn't a problem - once it's read from WMF/EPS it can be used with a bitmap representation of the equation - 1200dpi would be good enough for any printing need.

Equation is just a linked file.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

@Manuela Maria

I think I've figured out a workaround workflow for you - but description will have to wait till I get back home in ~3 hours - too much typing involved and I'm on my phone right now, sorry.

Report · Sep 25, 2023

I was hoping, that if I can reproduce the error when INDD file is opened - ID-Tasker could find those missing ones - but as all are present - I have only this:

Maybe kind of a workaround for you would be to work with some kind of proxy files?

Use WMF initially to position equations correctlly in the line - and for edits / updates - but before exporting - replace them with something else that will export correctly?